Mermaid Beach review – Wales gets its mermaidcore moment in teen-empowerment tale

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When discontented Lily becomes a fantastical sea creature her low-budget transformation is strikingly unconvincing, rather in tune with the whole film Mermaidcore comes to the Welsh coastline in this somewhat stilted family movie about a teenager called Lily who turns into a mermaid. You could imagine it being developed into a series for kids’ TV but as a film it unfortunately falls at the first hurdle – failing to pull off a convincing mermaid transformation. Poor Lily’s shimmering tail is very obviously made from nylon that becomes very clingy when wet, making her legs very visible under the scales. Ellie Bindman plays Lily, who has moved from London to the Welsh seaside with her family for her stepdad’s work. Resentful about leaving her friends, she is huffy, communicating with her mum Claire (Marie Wilson) primarily in eyerolls. Lily’s only friend in town is Shane (Jack Taruschio Thomas), an awkward, slightly odd trainee local reporter who is following a lead about a mermaid sighti...
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Old Man review – wilderness horror as cranky codger faces off with mysterious hiker

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Lucky McKee’s psychological horror starring Stephen Lang feels inauthentic and flat

Here is an unexceptional psychological horror from director Lucky McKee that feels dated and clunky, with some fairly ropey acting – or maybe that is down to the shaky lines put into the actors’ mouths. It only comes alive after a freaky plot twist at the end, but even that left the hairs on the back of my neck unprickled, the carpet under my feet unpulled.

Stephen Lang plays a cranky codger known only as Old Man who lives in the remote Smoky Mountains wilderness. The set design of his wooden cabin is distractingly inauthentic; it’s like an Ikea store display that has been done up in hicksville chic. Old Man has woken up in a filthy temper; first his dog, Rascal, pees on the floor, and then there is a knock at the door. Old Man shoves his shotgun into the face of the stranger standing outside. “Do as I say, or you’ll end up like her,” he growls, jabbing the gun at a stuffed wildcat on the wall.

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